Portable hose reel carts for handling and storage of flexible water hoses, such as garden and air hoses, have gained wide public acceptance. While the construction of hose reel carts is quite varied, such carts are primarily constructed of molded plastic components having a centrally disposed rotatable spool for reeling of the flexible hose, a frame for supporting of the spool, wheels may be included at one end of the base of the frame, and a frame handle for tilting the frame onto the wheels to facilitate moving the cart. The frame handle may, or may not be foldable or telescoping for purposes of shipping and/or storage. For more information concerning the structure and operation of hose reel carts, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. RE. 32,510, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,552 the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Common to hose reel carts is the use of a crank handle secured to a hub for use in rotation of a spool. The spools are typically arranged with the crank handle located at the center of the hub to wind the flexible hose. Attempts have been made to move the location of the crank handle, however, such attempts typically employ the use of a sprocket and chain assembly leaving little in the way of efficiency, ratio gearing, or the ability to compactly store such a device. The advantage of an elevated crank handle is to allow rotation of the spool by an operator who need not bend over to perform the operation. Standing upright lessens the strain on an individual's back, but typically crank movement does not address the change in location for gearing leverage, or address storage of such a device.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 1,115,325 discloses a garden hose reel storage device wherein the spool is rotated from a crank mounted a distance above the spool. The remotely mounted crank is coupled by a chain extending between a pair of sprockets for driving the spool. A smaller sprocket secured to the crank provides a gear reduction to the larger sprocket adjacent to the spool. The direct coupling requires a large diameter spool sprocket that is difficult to shield and creates dangerous pinch points.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,609 discloses a hose reel cart having a remotely mounted crank handle coupled to a spool by a chain and sprocket assembly. This disclosure utilizes an oversize crank handle thereby reducing the size of sprockets needed to transfer rotation from the hand crank to the hose reel spool.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,627 discloses a hose reel cart employing yet another sprocket and chain drive assembly. In this disclosure a crank sprocket is mounted along a side wall of the cart, at a slightly elevated position. The hand crank remains well below the cart handle. Thus, the device fails to take advantage of the highest point on the cart and continues to force the operator to crank the spool from a lower position.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,742,740, 6,908,058 and 6,976,649, assigned to same assignee as the instant invention, disclose hose carts with elevated cranking positions. These devices all utilize various combinations of intermeshing gears to transmit power between the crank, the reel and/or the level-wind device. However, one shortcoming with these devices is the elevated point from which the hose is recoiled onto the reel. The elevated recoil position may increase the likelihood of overturning the device during hose rewinding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,900, assigned to the same assignee as the instant invention, discloses a hose enclosure with a level-wind apparatus for distributing the hose in an even manner across the face of a reel.
Thus, what is lacking in the art is a hose reel device having an elevated crank handle and a low-entry area for recoiling the hose. Also what is lacking in the art is a hose reel enclosure that includes a combination of injection molded and extruded panels for a low-cost yet robust enclosure. Prior art assemblies that utilize extruded panels require separate connectors to attach the panels together, increasing the number of components and connections required to assemble an enclosure, thereby increasing the complexity an cost of assembly. The hose reel device should include intermeshing gear drives for transfer of motion from the crank to the reel and/or level-wind components.